Abstract
As ideal tracers of the global water cycle, water stable isotopes show a temperature effect at mid-high latitudes and an “amount effect” at mid-low latitudes. However, the interpretation of stable isotopes in the monsoon region remains uncertain. To understand the factors controlling daily precipitation δ18O values in the midlatitude monsoon region, continuous observations of precipitation isotopes in Rizhao from 2021 to 2022 were made. We investigate the drivers of precipitation δ18O by analyzing their relationship with temperature, precipitation amount, relative humidity, and outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) data. Back trajectory analysis with the HYSPLIT model based on precipitation events was also used to trace moisture sources. The results show that the controlling factors of stable isotopes in precipitation vary during different seasons. In the spring–summer season, precipitation δ18O is associated with heavy precipitation over the region of the Asian continent, the tropical Indian Ocean, the South China Sea, and the local sampling site, consistent with the spatial patterns of OLR, indicating that convection activities are the main driver of precipitation isotopic values in those seasons. In the autumn–winter season, the positive correlation between precipitation δ18O and local and regional-scale temperature confirms that Rayleigh distillation controls moisture transport. These findings improve regional-scale understanding of hydrological cycles in the East Asian mid-latitude monsoon region and have the potential to improve our understanding of isotopic variations in the proxy archives of the East Asian monsoon region.
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The data used of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the editors and the two anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions. The authors would like to thank the Rizhao Meteorological Bureau for providing the local meteorological data. We are also grateful to the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL) for providing the air temperature, precipitation amount, and OLR data. This research was supported by the Applied Basic Research Foundation of Yunnan Province (Grant No. 202001BB050033), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant nos. 42171126, 41901077), Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. ZR2021YQ28) and Youth Innovation Team of Shandong Provincial Higher Education Institutions (Grant No. 2022RW041).
Funding
This research was supported by the Applied Basic Research Foundation of Yunnan Province (Grant No. 202001BB050033), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant nos. 42171126, 41901077), Shandong Provincial Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. ZR2021YQ28) and Youth Innovation Team of Shandong Provincial Higher Education Institutions (Grant No. 2022RW041).
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by Lili Shao, Yiliang Chen, and Xiangjuan Lv. The first draft of the manuscript was written by Lili Shao and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Shao, L., Fu, M., Chen, Y. et al. Control of seasonal variations of precipitation isotope in Rizhao, Eastern China. Theor Appl Climatol 153, 447–456 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-023-04490-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00704-023-04490-5